6th Nutcracker painting

'Tis the season!  For Nutcrackers!  Nutcracker dolls originated from late seventeenth century Germany.  One origin story attributes the creation of the first nutcracker doll to a craftsman from Seiffen. They were often given as gifts, and at some point they became associated with Christmas season.

 "In 1872 Wilhelm Fuchtner, known as the father of the nutcracker, made the first commercial production of nutcrackers using the lathe to create many of the same design.  The Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum shows an 1880 miner of Wilhelm Fuchtner along with a miner presently made in the Fuchtner family workshops." (http://www.nutcrackermuseum.com/history.htm)

We kept our Nutcracker drawings pretty traditional, as little wooden soldiers, but they chose different combinations of colors for the backgrounds and uniform.  I love how these turned out!